News

Take down slums, not politicians like Michelle Spence-Jones

A A A Comments (14) By Luther Campbell Thursday, Mar 18 2010

Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness once made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. Up this week, Luke assesses the latest criminal charges against his pal Michelle Spence-Jones and what he would do to fix Overtown and Liberty City.

C. Stiles

More About

Before Michelle Spence-Jones was re-elected and subsequently removed from office this past November, I asked her why she was even bothering with politics. Her answer was that she was determined to improve District 5, home to Overtown and Liberty City, the poorest neighborhoods in Miami. But I kept wondering if it was really worth it, because you have to be the pope to be commissioner in that district. That's a political hot seat on the Miami City Commission. I wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole, because it seems every commissioner who wins that seat gets jammed up: Miller Dawkins. Arthur Teele Jr., who blew his head off. And now Spence-Jones, who is close to blowing her head off.

Why? Well, there is a lot of money that goes to Overtown and Liberty City. For example, Miami has a community redevelopment agency with a shitload of money. Everyone is trying to get their hands on that pot. So when the commissioner whose district includes the CRA starts making demands, that is when the crazy shit starts happening. Everybody I talk to tells me it is too much of a coincidence that the same week the judge in Spence-Jones's case was going to rule against Gov. Charlie Crist, they come out with some new criminal charges against her. I don't think Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle is the one pushing the buttons. There is a political game going on here, and the governor is behind it.

The latest criminal charge against Spence-Jones is that she took a bribe from developer Armando Codina, who says he believed he was donating money to pay for a gala in honor of former County Commissioner Barbara Carey-Shuler. If the gala went on, what's the problem? Given what has been reported in the Miami Herald, lawyers say it will be hard to prove Spence-Jones took a bribe. But in today's world, you're guilty before you're proven innocent. When criminal charges are filed against a public figure, the media comes at you in an intense way. You get tons of articles. You make the front page. But if you're proven innocent, you get a small blurb in the back pages. You are only innocent in your own mind and with your family.

So you have Spence-Jones focusing all of her energy trying to stay out of prison. But the real losers are the people of District 5. They live in the area with the highest crime rate and the highest unemployment rate. You have Liberty City looking like Beirut, and you have Overtown looking like Afghanistan. Nothing is done to get people jobs or provide a better way of life. And the sad part is that the solutions are really simple.

If I could speak to Mayor Tomás Regalado and the city commission, I'd lay out a plan to beautify Overtown and Liberty City. If your neighborhood looks like Beirut, people are going to run around shooting other people. But if it looks like Brickell Avenue, people will take pride in their neighborhood. Knock down all the slums. Tear all the shit down on 15th Avenue. Find money to redo the Pork 'n' Beans Projects. Make the place livable. Make NW Seventh Avenue into our Coconut Grove.

I remember there used to be a place called the 1040 Building on the corner of 62nd Street and Tenth Avenue. It was like the apartment complex where people sold and smoked crack in the movie New Jack City. Miami tore it down and built a police substation in its place. That was the best, most productive thing the City of Miami has ever done. People take pride in new shit. You improve the quality of life, and people will police themselves.

The city can eliminate a lot of crime in Overtown and Liberty City by providing more after-school care for kids. That is a major reason why the city needs to fix up parks in District 5. Then you have the facilities that can provide after-school care. You give these kids somewhere to go. You create a place for kids from these high-crime areas to go from the time they get out of school until it's time for them to go home. For example, Charles Hadley Park has a building that is supposed to be a senior citizen center, but every day it is overflowing with kids. They overrun the seniors. Hadley Park needs a gym and classrooms.

Overall, the city commission needs to work to rebuild District 5 instead of focusing so much on politically taking out that district's commissioner.

Follow Uncle Luke on Twitter: @unclelukereal1.

Check out this week's featured ad for News

Concorde Career Institute

View Ad View Website

More Ads >>

Email
to Friend

Write to
Editor

Print
Article

Get a job 07/17/2010 8:15:00 PM

Who is paying Spence-Jones's bills? After Gov Crist removed her did Spence-Jones get a legit job? Who is giving her money? Follow the money...
malcom 03/28/2010 4:15:00 AM

Ummm, didnt the taxpayers try to make "Beautify" overtown a few years ago. Planting some $100,000 worth of plants in various locales. It took no time before On-Duty cops were posted in these locations for hours on end to stop landscaping theft. Then of course there are the dozens of habitat for humanity homes that have been built over the years. Most of them are now poorly cared for, and clearly unappreciated. Speaking of appreciation. The people who populate overtown are for the most part, living off the government. Or rather, our tax dollars. Non-working, non-contributing drains on society that do little but create job growth in the law enforcement field. Why, if you have nothing better do do, is it to much to ask for you to care for your own home. But no, instead there is trash 3 feet from the trashcan. Chicken bones mixed with car parts in alleys. Tiny baggies with narc residue fill the gutters, and the people that live there allow their kids to run around barefoot. No Luke, take your own dime, use your own influence, get the kids and parents to go to school, because education and cultural modification is the only thing that is going to turn the ghetto into someplace worth saving.
chrstopher mcintyre 03/26/2010 9:35:00 PM

I really enjoy reading your commentary.You are straight forward and have a real feel about our community needs.My comment on Commissioner Spence-Jones is that they are picking the wrong fruit off the tree meaning that there are more rotten fruit in the garden.She is trying to help our people so allow her to.
Teddy Harrell, Jr 03/26/2010 5:56:00 PM

Mr. Campbell, I admire your blog and the information that you share. I am concern though, that if any politician takes an oath to serve then they must at all times adhere to the rules of the office. You are right that the areas of Liberty City and Overtown needs improvement, but there has been some physical improvements that were implemented years ago when Overtown was being beautified and what about the gardening initiative that was done. I know that Commissioner Spence-Jones was involved in that and I applaude her. The improvements, though with the people who live there. Mr. Campbell, the communities cannot and will not be up-graded until the people living in them understand what it takes to keep them vibrant. I ride through Overtown at least twice a week. The people doing and selling drugs there may think they want that community to look like Brickell Avenue, but it will be impossible. They are not ready for that sort of economic, blustering community. Liberty City will not florish as a livable, economic community until, the very low income hubs such as Liberty Square Housing and all the Miami-Dade Housing facilities and other drug haven apartments are removed. Mr. Campbell, its no one's fault but our own for how our communities look. Commissioner Spence-Jones and every other office holder who are elected to serve the people should not be so greedy and stay focused on what they were elected to do, not their own personal activities.
voiceunheard 03/22/2010 5:46:00 PM

Thanks very much for 7th avenue trying to look like Coconut Grove. If anything she helped made it look ghostly like it does. I can tell you this though their business was up an running with her criminal family members running it. The laws of the land suppose to be for everyone who breaks them, with substantial punishment. It makes me wonder how can someone get Miami-Dade County job whom spent time in prison, I guess they have pull of getting their records sealed. I have broken the law in my early years growing up and can not get a well paying job because of that,actually it has been approximately 22 years since that has happened. I am a law abiding citizen with a young child trying to help prepare for the ups and dowms in life but can not get any help in the work force because it keeps surfing back up..... I guess hr brother and her husband are very special....I thought everybody suppose to be treated equal in the land of America.....TOO BAD I DO NOT EAT AT THE SAME TABLE AS THEY DO, AND YOU HAVE TO KNOW SOMEBODY THAT KNOWS SOMEBODY.....STAY HOME MICHELLE AND RAISE YOUR KIDS LIKE A GOOD SENSIBLE MOTHER SHOULD,SO THEY DO NOT GET CAUGHT UP LIKE I DID BECAUSE YOU DAMN SURE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO HELP THEM BEHIND BARS.....YOU NEED TO GET ON YOUR KNEES AND REPENT TO THE ALMIGHTY JESUS FOR YOUR SINS AND TRANSGRESSIONS.....GOD BLESS
Jim 03/20/2010 1:56:00 AM

This story is yet another one to make us feel sorry for the one's that got caught. At the end of the day, it's a $ 25K donation to the politician's non-profit. From there, where does the money go and how is it accounted for. Then you heve the other $ 50K she took. And she had a partner in crime too, the Rev. Gaston Smith took $ 10K from the same grant/funding and only was hit with paying it back and getting 5 years probation and no jail time. So because we have a politician and a pastor here, it's wrong to go after them ? If either had stolen a purse or held up a convenience store for a carton of cigarettes and a case of beer, you'd be all for locking them up in a prison and having them pay their debt to society. But since they are pillars of the African American community they merit preferential treatment ? It's time to stop this nonsense, the money was "granted" to clean up the community. You have a hard time selling that stealing $ 60K at least for that purpose isn't in the best interest of all involved. Spence Jones wants to do something about that area, because it's profitable for her. She has a very good job, access to grant funds to apparently spend as she sees fit. It's one thing to accept the job and live within the income and perks as they are, yet another to cheat and rob from those that the grant is there to help.
Steve Redlich 03/20/2010 1:50:00 AM

Better yet, take down slums and crooked District 5 politicians. It's only when District 5 can elect clean commissioners truly committed to improving the lot of their constituents that the district will see any real improvement. At the end of the day, if the district doesn't elect an honest protagonist to resolve many of the problems bedeviling the area, constituents have no one to blame but themselves. Can't just try to shift the blame on others, voters have to be responsible.
StevePaul 03/19/2010 8:13:00 PM

Uncle Luke drops knowledge.
voiceunheard 03/18/2010 10:15:00 PM

Hey LUKE what's up with you girl she is in the Miami Herald today about somemore kickbacks she took for THE LOVE OF MONEY, I want to know why did she do it t her own neighborhood....READ page 17A in todays paper...
voiceunheard 03/17/2010 7:18:00 AM

First of all while she was in office she did not do anything for District 5. Come on Luke let's get real with each other, remember they almost canceled THE MARTIN LUTHER KING PARADE because sh did not even have an agenda about it while she was in office. Evidently it is a power greater than any human being out there, that made this come to pass you know you reap what you sowe,so she must have sown some rotten seeds. As a matter a fact she stepped on alot of good people toes.....Do you remember AFRO BOOKS N THINGS five year stright they tried to get the mom and pop grants she had her hand in stopping them from reeceiving but she helped everyone else she just had bad blood for those CHAPMAN girls. Everything that is happening to her is because she did it to herself.........GREED IS A MUTHER she knew and all those commissioners knew the city was financially strapped that is why they rushed for tha stadium to be built,you tell me wha the hell are we going to do with aport tunnel that is next, evidently look you never watched the miami dade channel when they was trying to get this damn package together with the street car but affordable housing was supposed to be inclusive that is why you see all these jail-like on the corner apartments being built all of a sudden..... She better glad she is out because some more shit is about to hit the fan on how they lied about how the tourist and restaurant tax dollars was supposed to have paid for that damn stadium they knew that the tourist tax dollars was on the decline, I really don't know how she sleeps at night with all the shit she helped pull.....Luke stay out ofit because you do not know the whole story.....
rena 03/17/2010 4:40:00 AM

Hello Luke, you are a celebrity, which means you have a whole lot of impact; with out doing any research. Please let the courts decide. Blacks and whites came against me in the 2008 election now think what this will do if you add on to this??????? I am black Luke and I do understand you were raise and born here but also I'm from New York but have lived here for many of years you might say Im somewhat of that big "Migration to New York" that is a part of history (smile). Can we just move away from this "black, white" because its really not about this; blacks are just as rude towards me as the whites were in the 2008 election; do you want to hear the names I was called during that 2008 election by blacks in the "Spence Jones District"; This is not "Martin Luther King Dream" no this?????????????? I find you again to write to you again to fully tell you the truth of whats been going on ya know what I mean (i am).
sunnyd 03/17/2010 4:15:00 AM

If she is a crook she should go to jail. If it is a conspirancy those responsible should go to jail.
anne 03/17/2010 12:14:00 AM

How about you, Luke, investing in that area. The city is broke, and yes that is the politicians fault for not saving in the boom times and now in the economic downturn, they are behind the 8ball. You luke, you got plenty of money and clout in the community, why don't you start the process, buy an old apartment building, fix it up, empower and encourage the people. And FYI if you think GIVING people nice new things fixes the problems, you are wrong. Look at the seminoles in hollyhood. Monthly stipens, new homes and cars and yet they have chronic alcoholism and drug issues that are killing their young people. The houses off the rez are pig styes. (at least the rez hires people to keep the rez clean but that's not helping the seminoles learn to live clean autonomous lives). Throwing money at a problem does not solve a problem.
Mayor to be-Banana Republic 03/16/2010 10:43:00 PM

I like Luke and enjoyed his music growing up. I don�t think his assessment about Spence-Jones is right. Any politician elected to office and commits a crime by stealing or defrauding the tax payers that elected them should be jailed. Once convicted a new sentencing guideline should be developed that allows for double the jail time. Public corruption in Miami-Dade County has to stop and we don�t need politicians like Spence-Jones. The reality is the investigation for Spence-Jones, is only the beginning of what will become the biggest corruption scandal against politicians in Miami-Dade County/City of Miami once the state attorneys office and FDLE focus on the kickbacks from the Marlin Stadium and Miami 21. The 25K was just a kick in the bucket for Spence-Jones and her crony friends. Luke you need to find new friends. What district five needs is a leader willing to lead and fight for its community not fill their pockets with developer funds. Wake UP MIAMI!